In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing reminiscence loss and psychological fogginess so extreme {that a} good friend grew involved he might need a mind tumor. Mr. Kennedy stated he consulted a number of of the nation’s high neurologists, a lot of whom had both handled or spoken to his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, earlier than his loss of life the earlier 12 months of mind most cancers.
A number of docs seen a darkish spot on the youthful Mr. Kennedy’s mind scans and concluded that he had a tumor, he stated in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Instances. Mr. Kennedy was instantly scheduled for a process at Duke College Medical Heart by the identical surgeon who had operated on his uncle, he stated.
Whereas packing for the journey, he stated, he obtained a name from a physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had a unique opinion: Mr. Kennedy, he believed, had a lifeless parasite in his head.
The physician believed that the abnormality seen on his scans “was attributable to a worm that received into my mind and ate a portion of it after which died,” Mr. Kennedy stated within the deposition.
Now an unbiased presidential candidate, the 70-year-old Mr. Kennedy has portrayed his athleticism and relative youth as a bonus over the 2 oldest folks to ever search the White Home: President Biden, 81, and former President Donald J. Trump, 77. Mr. Kennedy has secured a spot on the ballots in Utah, Michigan, Hawaii and, his marketing campaign says, California and Delaware. His intensive efforts to achieve entry in additional states may put him able to tip the election.
He has gone to lengths to look hale, snowboarding with knowledgeable snowboarder and with an Olympic gold medalist who known as him a “ripper” as they raced down the mountain. A digital camera crew was at his facet whereas he lifted weights, shirtless, at an outside health club in Venice Seaside.
Nonetheless, through the years, he has confronted critical well being points, some beforehand undisclosed, together with the obvious parasite.
For many years, Mr. Kennedy suffered from atrial fibrillation, a typical heartbeat abnormality that will increase the chance of stroke or coronary heart failure. He has been hospitalized at the very least 4 occasions for episodes, though in an interview with The Instances this winter, he stated he had not had an incident in additional than a decade and believed the situation had disappeared.
About the identical time he discovered of the parasite, he stated, he was additionally recognized with mercury poisoning, almost definitely from ingesting an excessive amount of fish containing the damaging heavy steel, which may trigger critical neurological points.
“I’ve cognitive issues, clearly,” he stated within the 2012 deposition. “I’ve short-term reminiscence loss, and I’ve longer-term reminiscence loss that impacts me.”
Within the interview with The Instances, he stated he had recovered from the reminiscence loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he stated had not required remedy. Requested final week if any of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points may compromise his health for the presidency, Stefanie Spear, a spokeswoman for the Kennedy marketing campaign, instructed The Instances, “That could be a hilarious suggestion, given the competitors.”
The marketing campaign declined to offer his medical information to The Instances. Neither President Biden nor Mr. Trump has launched medical information on this election cycle.
Docs who’ve handled parasitic infections and mercury poisoning stated each situations can generally completely harm mind operate, however sufferers can also have short-term signs and mount a full restoration.
A few of Mr. Kennedy’s well being points had been revealed within the 2012 deposition, which he gave throughout divorce proceedings from his second spouse, Mary Richardson Kennedy. On the time, Mr. Kennedy was arguing that his incomes energy had been diminished by his cognitive struggles.
Mr. Kennedy supplied extra particulars, together with in regards to the obvious parasite, within the telephone interview with The Instances, carried out when he was on the cusp of getting on his first state poll. His marketing campaign declined to reply follow-up questions.
Within the days after the 2010 name from NewYork-Presbyterian, Mr. Kennedy stated within the interview, he underwent a battery of assessments. Scans over many weeks confirmed no change within the spot on his mind, he stated.
Docs in the end concluded that the cyst they noticed on scans contained the stays of a parasite. Mr. Kennedy stated that he didn’t know the kind of parasite or the place he might need contracted it, although he suspected it might need been throughout a visit by way of South Asia.
A number of infectious illness consultants and neurosurgeons stated in separate interviews with The Instances that, based mostly on what Mr. Kennedy described, they believed it was seemingly a pork tapeworm larva. The docs haven’t handled Mr. Kennedy and had been talking usually.
Dr. Clinton White, a professor of infectious illnesses on the College of Texas Medical Department in Galveston, stated microscopic tapeworm eggs are sticky and simply transferred from one individual to a different. As soon as hatched, the larvae can journey within the bloodstream, he stated, “and find yourself in every kind of tissues.”
Although it’s unimaginable to know, he added that it’s unlikely {that a} parasite would eat part of the mind, as Mr. Kennedy described. Somewhat, Dr. White stated, it survives on vitamins from the physique. In contrast to tapeworm larvae within the intestines, these within the mind stay comparatively small, a few third of an inch.
Some tapeworm larvae can dwell in a human mind for years with out inflicting issues. Others can wreak havoc, usually once they begin to die, which causes irritation. The most typical signs are seizures, complications and dizziness.
There are roughly 2,000 hospitalizations for the situation, often called neurocysticercosis, annually in the US, in line with the journal Rising Infectious Illnesses.
Scott Gardner, curator of the Manter Laboratory for Parasitology on the College of Nebraska-Lincoln, stated that when any worm is in a mind, cells calcify round it. “And also you’re going to mainly have virtually like a tumor that’s there without end. It’s not going to go wherever.”
Dr. Gardner stated it was attainable a worm would trigger reminiscence loss. Nevertheless, extreme reminiscence loss is extra usually related to one other well being scare Mr. Kennedy stated he had on the time: mercury poisoning.
Mr. Kennedy stated he was then subsisting on a eating regimen heavy on predatory fish, notably tuna and perch, each identified to have elevated mercury ranges. Within the interview with The Instances, he stated that he had skilled “extreme mind fog” and had hassle retrieving phrases. Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has railed towards the hazards of mercury contamination in fish from coal-fired energy crops, had his blood examined.
He stated the assessments confirmed his mercury ranges had been 10 occasions what the Environmental Safety Company considers protected.
On the time, Mr. Kennedy additionally was just a few years into his campaign towards thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative utilized in some vaccines. He’s a longtime vaccine skeptic who has falsely linked childhood inoculations to an increase in autism, in addition to to different medical situations.
Within the interview, Mr. Kennedy stated he was sure his eating regimen had brought on the poisoning. “I liked tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them on a regular basis,” he stated.
The Instances described Mr. Kennedy’s signs to Elsie Sunderland, an environmental chemist at Harvard who has not spoken to Mr. Kennedy and responded usually in regards to the situation.
She stated the mercury ranges that Mr. Kennedy described had been excessive, however not shocking for somebody consuming that amount and sort of seafood.
Mr. Kennedy stated he made modifications after these two well being scares, together with getting extra sleep, touring much less and decreasing his fish consumption.
He additionally underwent chelation remedy, a remedy that binds to metals within the physique to allow them to be expelled. It’s usually given to folks contaminated by metals, akin to lead and zinc, in industrial accidents. Dr. Sunderland stated that when mercury poisoning is clearly diet-related, she would merely suggest that the individual cease consuming fish. However one other physician who spoke to The Instances stated she would advise chelation remedy for the degrees Mr. Kennedy stated he had.
Mr. Kennedy’s coronary heart challenge started in faculty, he stated, when it began beating out of sync.
In 2001 he was admitted to a hospital in Seattle whereas on the town to present a speech, in line with information stories. He was handled, and launched the subsequent day. He was hospitalized at the very least three extra occasions between September 2011 and early 2012, together with as soon as in Los Angeles, he stated within the deposition. On that go to, he stated, docs used a defibrillator to shock his coronary heart to reset the rhythm.
He stated within the deposition that stress, caffeine and an absence of sleep triggered the situation. “It seems like there’s a bag of worms in my chest. I can really feel instantly when it goes out,” he stated.
He additionally stated within the deposition and the interview that he had contracted hepatitis C by way of intravenous drug use in his youth. He stated he had been handled and had no lingering results from the an infection.
Mr. Kennedy has spoken publicly about one different main well being situation — spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological dysfunction that causes his vocal cords to squeeze too shut collectively and explains his hoarse, generally strained voice.
He first seen it when he was 42 years previous, he stated within the deposition. Mr. Kennedy for years made a big sum of money giving speeches, and that enterprise fell off because the situation worsened, he stated.
He instructed an interviewer final 12 months that he had not too long ago undergone a process out there in Japan to implant titanium between his vocal cords to maintain them from involuntarily constricting.
